Management Practice and Productivity: Why They Matter John Dowdy Stephen Dorgan Pedro Castro Philipp Kostuch John Van Reenen Nick Bloom Raffaella Sadun Christos Genakos
WE ARE EXTREMELY GRATEFUL FOR THE SUPPORT RECEIVED FROM OUR FUNDERS NEW LOGO 1
AGENDA Measuring management practice Evaluating the management measure Describing management across firms and countries Explaining management across firms and countries Management practices in the U.K. 2
ASSESSING MANAGEMENT PRACTICE Scoring management practice Created a robust assessment tool to score management of operations, people and performance Setting the sampling frame 4,000 medium sized* manufacturers across U.S., Asia and Europe Medium sized as intra-firm practices more homogeneous Manufacturing as productivity easier to measure Obtaining unbiased responses Conducted Double-blind interviews Managers unaware of the scoring methodology Interviewers unaware of corporate performance Executed by 46 MBA-trained interviewers with business experience Getting firms to participate Obtained Central Bank, Ministry and Employer Association endorsements * Median ~20 employees 3
TO SCORE COMPANIES, WE USED DESCRIPTIONS OF POOR, AVERAGE AND GOOD PRACTICE FOR EACH DIMENSION Management practices Example dimensions evaluated Dimension scoring criteria Operations management Quality of targets Interconnection of targets 1 Measures tracked do not directly indicate if overall business objectives are being met. Tracking is ad hoc Performance management Performance tracking 3 Most key performance indicators are tracked formally. Tracking is overseen by senior management People management Time horizon of targets Consequence management Performance is continuously tracked and communicated, formally and informally, to all staff, using a range of visual management tools 4
AGENDA Measuring management practice Evaluating the management measure Describing management across firms and countries Explaining management across firms and countries Management practices in the U.K.
INTERNAL VALIDATION SUGGESTS THAT OUR ASSESSED MANAGEMENT PRACTICE SCORE IS INFORMATIVE Assessed management practice score* 1 st interview 4 Correlation of 0.63 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 2 nd interview * 222 firms interviewed by 2 different interviews, interviewing 2 different managers 6
THE ASSESSED MANAGEMENT PRACTICE SCORE CORRELATES WELL WITH A NUMBER OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE METRICS 7 Labour productivity 6 20 Sales growth (%) 4 20 1 2 3 4 Assessed management practice score* ROCE (%) 1 10 1 1 2 3 4 Assessed management practice score* 10 1 2 3 4 Assessed management practice score* * Firms are grouped in 0. increments of assessed management score 7
THIS LINK HOLDS TRUE ACROSS DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND CULTURES Labour productivity 6. US 6.0 UK Labour productivity 7 CN JP. 6.0 4. 4.0 1 2 3 4 Assessed management practice score 4 1 2 3 4 Assessed management practice score Labour productivity 7 FR DE Labour productivity 6. IT PT 6 SE PL 6.0 GR..0 4 1 2 3 4 Assessed management practice score * Firms are grouped in 0. increments of assessed management score 4. 1 2 3 4 Assessed management practice score 8
AGENDA Measuring management practice Evaluating the management measure Describing management across firms and countries Explaining management across firms and countries Management practices in the U.K. 9
THERE IS SUBSTANTIAL INTER-COUNTRY MANAGEMENT PRACTICE VARIABILITY Average management practice score - by country* US Sweden Japan Germany UK France Italy Poland Portugal Greece China* India 3.2 3.16 3.1 3.1 3.00 2.98 2.98 2.88 2.73 2.6 2.62 2.62 3 statistically distinct groups emerge U.S., Sweden, Japan and Germany U.K., France and Italy Poland Portugal, Greece, China and India *China score not robust due to small sample size of 32 firms 10
HOWEVER, MANAGEMENT PRACTICES VARY MUCH MORE WITHIN THAN ACROSS COUNTRIES Distribution of firm level management practice scores by country U.S. Sweden Japan Germany 1 1 1 1 U.K. France Italy Poland 1 1 1 1 Portugal Greece China India 1 1 1 1 11
HOWEVER, MANAGEMENT PRACTICES VARY MUCH MORE WITHIN THAN ACROSS COUNTRIES Distribution of firm level management practice scores by country U.S. Sweden Japan Germany 1 1 1 1 U.K. France Italy Poland 1 1 1 1 Portugal Greece China India 1 1 1 1 12
HOWEVER, MANAGEMENT PRACTICES VARY MUCH MORE WITHIN THAN ACROSS COUNTRIES Distribution of firm level management practice scores by country U.S. Sweden Japan Germany 1 1 1 1 U.K. France Italy Poland 1 1 1 1 Portugal Greece China India 1 1 1 1 13
BUT THE U.S. IS NOT BEST AT EVERYTHING THERE ARE NATIONAL STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES Average operations and people management practice scores* - by country 1.0 0.8 Good 0.6 U.S. 0.4 People management Poor 0.2 0.0-0.2-0.4-0.6 India Poland U.K. Japan Germany China France Italy Portugal Greece Sweden -0.8-1.0-1.0-0.8-0.6-0.4-0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 Poor Good Operations management *Z-scores, i.e. normalized to zero mean and standard-deviation 1 by question 14
AGENDA Measuring management practice Evaluating the management measure Describing management across firms and countries Explaining management across firms and countries Management practices in the U.K. 1
WHAT WE THINK WE ALREADY KNOW 200 2 factors associated with better management practice Competition and free trade Management selection/appointment based upon merit 2007 Confirm key role of Competition and free trade Management selection/appointment based upon merit Identify other key drivers Labour market regulation Ownership type Skills Find managers are poor at assessing their own performance 16
MORE INTENSE COMPETITION IS CLEARLY ASSOCIATED WITH BETTER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES Assessed management practice score 3. 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2. 0 2 4 6 8 10 Reported number of competitors 17
COUNTRIES WITH MORE RIGID LABOUR MARKET REGULATIONS HAVE LOWER PEOPLE MANAGEMENT SCORES Labour market rigidity* vs people management practice score by country People management practice score 3.4 3.2 U.S. 3.0 2.8 U.K. Japan Poland Germany Sweden France China Italy 2.6 India Portugal 2.4 0 10 20 30 40 0 60 * World Bank Employee rigidity index Source: World Bank; Management Matters dataset Greece Employment Rigidity 18
WE FIND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO VARY SUBSTANTIALLY BY OWNERSHIP TYPE Management practice score* by ownership type US Multinationals Other Multinationals Dispersed Shareholders Private Equity/Venture Capital EU Multinationals Family owned, external CEO Other Managers Private Individuals Employees/COOP Family CEO Founder owned, external CEO Founder CEO Family CEO, Primogeniture Government 3.41 3.21 3.19 3.18 3.14 3.0 3.04 3.04 2.93 2.91 2.83 2.81 2.69 2.4 2.4 *All 12 countries 19
PRODUCTIVITY BY OWNERSHIP TYPE ALSO VARIES SIGNIFICANTLY AND IS CORRELATED WITH MANAGEMENT PRACTICE Productivity Vs management practice score by ownership type Labour productivity.6..4.3.2.1 Correlation of 0.708 Family CEO, Primo Geniture Founder owned, external CEO Founder CEO Family CEO Family owned, external CEO Other multinational Private equity/vc EU multinational Other Managers Dispersed shareholders U.S. multinational Private individuals.0 2. 2.7 2.9 3.1 3.3 Assessed management practice score 20
MULTINATIONALS ARE WELL RUN EVERYWHERE Management practice score by country Domestic firms Greece India Portugal Poland France UK Italy Germany Sweden US 2.47 2.4 2.61 2.74 2.8 2.8 2.88 3.02 3.13 3.16 21
MULTINATIONALS ARE WELL RUN EVERYWHERE Management practice score by country Greece India Portugal Poland France UK Italy Germany Sweden US Domestic firms Multinationals 2.47 3.06 2.4 3.36 2.61 3.24 2.74 3.12 2.8 3.07 2.8 3.17 2.88 3.32 3.02 3.29 3.13 3.17 3.16 3.48 * China and Japan excluded due to low muntinational sample size 22
BETTER MANAGEMENT IS LINKED WITH HIGHER SKILL LEVELS OF BOTH MANAGERS AND NON-MANAGERS Non-managers with degree, % Managers with degree, % 1. 1. 3 Management practice score 2.0 2. 3.0 3. 4.0 4. 6 11 12 1 20 20 Management practice score 2.0 2. 3.0 3. 4.0 4. 3 4 60 63 66 7.0 2.0 84 23
THE AVERAGE MANAGER BELIEVES THEIR COMPANY HAS ABOVE-AVERAGE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE Percentage 32 Average 27 16 10 6 0 1 1 3 3 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 Self-assessed management practice score 24
IT TURNS OUT MANAGERS APPEAR TO BE POOR AT SELF- ASSESSING THEIR FIRM S MANAGEMENT PRACTICE 8 Labour productivity 7 6 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 10 Self-assessed management practice score 2
MANAGERS EVEN APPEAR POOR AT ASSESSING THEIR RELATIVE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES Assessed gap operations vs. people management practice score 3 2 1-6 -3 0 0 3 6-1 -2-3 Self-assessed gap operations vs. people management practice score 26
AGENDA Measuring management practice Evaluating the management measure Describing management across firms and countries Explaining management across firms and countries Management practices in the U.K. 27
THE U.K. REMAINS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK DESPITE HIGH LABOUR MARKET FLEXIBILITY AND STRONG COMPETITIVE PRESSURES Average management practice score - by country* US Sweden Japan Germany UK France Italy Poland Portugal Greece China* 3.2 3.16 3.1 3.1 3.00 2.98 2.98 2.88 2.73 2.6 2.62 India 2.62 * China score not robust due to small sample size of 32 firms 28
ONE REASON IS THE PERSISTENT TAIL OF UNDERPERFORMING COMPANIES IN THE ECONOMY Distribution of firm level management practice scores U.K. U.S. 1 1 Assessed management practice score Assessed management practice score 29
ONE REASON IS THE PERSISTENT TAIL OF UNDERPERFORMING COMPANIES IN THE ECONOMY Distribution of firm level management practice scores U.K. U.S. 1 1 Assessed management practice score Assessed management practice score 30
ONE KEY DRIVER OF THE U.K. AVERAGE MANAGEMENT SCORE IS ITS RELATIVELY LOW SKILL LEVELS Average share of non-managers with degree by country Average share of managers with degree by country Japan 24.7 Japan 70.0 Sweden 1.8 Poland 69.7 Poland 1. Germany 64.6 Italy 13.9 Greece 62.8 US 13.8 US 9.7 France 13.7 France 9.7 Germany 10. Portugal 1.9 UK 9.0 Italy 1.3 Greece. Sweden 46. Portugal 3. UK 43.3 31
PRIMOGENITURE FAMILY OWNERSHIP IN THE U.K. SAMPLE IS MORE THAN THREE TIMES THAT OF THE U.S. SAMPLE Percentage of firms family-owned with a CEO selected by primogeniture Sweden Poland 0.8 1.3 US China 2.6 2.9 Germany.7 Portugal France Italy UK 7.3 8.3 8.9 9.1 Japan India Greece 13.2 14.3 1. 32
LOW SKILLS AND PRIMOGENITURE FAMILY FIRMS EXPLAIN MORE THAN HALF OF THE UK TAIL OF BADLY MANAGED FIRMS UK firms with no PG family CEO and higher skills* Density 3.3% of firms management <2 1 2 3 Assessed management practice score 4 UK firms with PG family CEO or lower skills** Density 9.1% of firms management <2 1 2 3 4 Assessed management practice score * Firms in which less than % of non-managers have a degree, N = 241 ** Firms in which more than % of non-managers have a degree, N = 398 33
CONCLUSIONS Positive influences Labour market flexibility Openness Competitive intensity Negative influences Poorer skills Managers Non managers Primogeniture firms 34
MY FAVOURITE QUOTES: The Swedish manufacturing goals Production Manager: Workers individual goals? They just want to go home! Americans on geography Interviewer: How many production sites do you have abroad? Manager in Indiana, US: Well we have one in Texas The difficulties of defining ownership in Europe Production Manager: We re owned by the Mafia Interviewer: I think that s the Other category..although I guess I could put you down as an Italian multinational? 3
Management Practice and Productivity: Why They Matter John Dowdy Stephen Dorgan Pedro Castro Philipp Kostuch John Van Reenen Nick Bloom Raffaella Sadun Christos Genakos